Religion and Child Abuse News: Seventh Mormon polygamist from FLDS compound in Texas guilty of child sex assault, sentencing phase continues

UPI.com - November 3, 2010

Guilty verdict in Texas polygamy trial

SAN ANGELO, Texas, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A jury in central Texas found a polygamous sect member guilty of sexually assaulting a child, a 15-year-old he took as one of his wives.

After five hours of deliberation on the sixth day of the trial of Keith Dutson Jr., in San Angelo, jurors returned the guilty verdict on the second degree felony charge, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported.

Dutson, 25, is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which condones polygamy, although the marriages aren't considered civic unions.

The court heard Dutson married the unidentified 15-year-old in October 2005 and the sexual assault happened in August 2006, the newspaper said.

Much of the prosecution's evidence was obtained from a raid on the sect's ranch in April 2008, the report said.

Sentencing by the jury was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The prison term can range from two to 20 years.

This article was found at:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/11/03/Guilty-verdict-in-Texas-polygamy-trial/UPI-95881288794549/

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San Angelo Standard-Times - Texas November 4, 2010

FLDS: Psychologist continues testimony

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Jurors heard more testimony this morning from a psychologist in the case of Keith Dutson, Jr., a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who has been convicted of sexual assault of a child. His trial is now in the sentencing phase.

The jury can give Dutson two to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine with the possibility of probation.

“They have the characteristics of a cult,” Larry Beall, the clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma, said of the FLDS.

Brandon Hudson, one of Dutson’s attorneys, had Beall bring out similarities between the FLDS and Beall’s faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from which the FLDS separated, primarily because the FLDS sanctions polygamous marriage and the LDS does not.

Hudson hearkened to the similarity of priesthood being reserved for men in both churches, and Beall said priesthood meant service in the LDS church and was more about power in the FLDS church.

Hudson also emphasized the compassion and love Dutson had for the girl he married when she was 15 year old and when he was 20.

“She is an angel to me,” one of the letters from Dutson to his FLDS leader stated.

Hudson also tried Beall on using apostate members, people who have left the church and are actively hostile to it, for his psychological studies.

And Hudson revealed the man who brought FLDS people for Beall to examine was a brother to a board member, a connection that Beall said he did not make regarding the three-person board while the brother was there for 17 years.

Beall testified that the Diversity Foundation, a group that the defense has characterized as anti-FLDS, gave money to Beall’s clinic to pay for patients.

The defense also questioned whether Beall had used hypnosis in his examinations of people, which the author of a book said he did. Beall said he did not hypnotize anyone he used to form his opinions.

This article was found at:

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/nov/04/psychologist-testifies-in-dutson-trial/

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